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China News Digest - US Regional Services (Bo Xiong) --------------- Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 07:16:00 EST Reply-To: huangl@EES1S0.ENGR.CCNY.CUNY.EDU Sender: Newsletter on Chinese Community From: huangl@EES1S0.ENGR.CCNY.CUNY.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list CCNL Status: RO >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> National * Committee * on * Immigration <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< News Release #9524 Friday, October 27, 1995 ============================================================================ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= The National Committee on Immigration is a coalition of Chinese Students, Scholars & Professionals who work against the anti-immigration bill HR1915 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= ============================================================================ 1. HR 2202 passed in Judiciary Committee, long way to go..................59 2. Financial aid for students jeopardized, bill H4 is moving..............63 3. OCA sample letter to act to stop welfare cut bill.....................139 ============================================================================ 1. HR 2202 passed in Judiciary Committee, long way to go..................59 Our lobby effort is a big success! Say NO to Congress! Commentary from Editorial Board As we have learned from our D.C. representatives, the House Judiciary Committee completed mark-up of H.R. 2202 at 6:00 pm on October 24th. By any means, this is already a BIG success of our nation-wide efforts. Rep. Lamar Smith (Rep. TX) intended to sneak his 300 pages bill through the House Judiciary Committee within ONE WEEK later last July, with hidden provisions hurting legal immigrants and employment based immigration badly. This bill could have gone through totally unnoticed by our constituents. However, with the joint efforts of all of us, this bill had been widely publicized and scrutinized by the largest possible constituents. As a result, many ill-spirit provisions, amendments were removed and new amendments to "soften the blow" had been added. The total time cost to the passage of this bill in the House Judiciary Committee is THREE MONTHS instead of ONE WEEK! What a diference! Since it is already unlikely this bill can reach the House floor this year, we now gained much needed time to reorganize our coalition to launch waves after waves lobby efforts. Our ultimate goal - to slow down the passage of the bill as long as possible, to gain more and more support to combat this ill-spirited H.R.2202, and make it impossible for it to reach the House floor, or, impossible for the President to endorse it. United, we can make a difference! During the past several months, we have collected thousands of signatures. We have made rounds of letter writing and phone calling campaigns. We have made the Representatives aware of our concerns and gained support from various Congressmen/women. We have established a wide-spread electronic network connecting thousands of individuals and organizations across the nation. We have gained much needed experience and knowledge on how to organize a campaign at this scale. Let us keep up our spirit and fight all the way along! America is a immigrants-built country. It is utterly ridiculars that this country should turn against immigrants! With little effort to look back, it is not difficult to find out this wave of anti-immigration is racial based. The community hurt the most, is definitely Asian Americans, which had been BANNED from immigrating into this country for more than 60 years! How could we, keep silent and let this darkest history repeat itself once again just before our eyes? Let's read the following paragraph carried by ACCANR9501: There is a fresh reminder of our past. After the U.S. acquisition (1848) of California, there arose a need for cheap labor, and Chinese flocked there to work on the railroads. By 1867 they numbered 50,000; their number increased after the Burlingame Treaty of 1868, which permitted Chinese immigration but not naturalization. Anti-Asian prejudice and the competition with American workers led to anti-Chinese riots (1877) in San Francisco, then to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese immigration for 10 years. Congress continued until the 1924 immigration law that excluded all Asians. In 1943 a new law extended citizenship rights, and permitted an annual immigration of 105(!!!) Chinese. The quota was abolished in 1965(!!!). Say NO to Chinese Exclusion Act! Say NO to Asian Exclusion Acts! Just say NO! We can not keep silent ANYMORE! Anne Frank ============================================================================ 2. Financial aid for students jeopardized, bill H4 is moving..............63 WARNING: THE US GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TAKE FINANCIAL AID FROM STUDENTS In addition to a bill recently passed in the Senate to cut Federal loans programs by $10 billion, the Senate and the House have both passed bills that will effectively curtail student aid benefits to LEGAL immigrants, including Pell grants, subsidized Stafford loans, and other federal financial aid programs. These proposed cuts, hidden deep within a welfare reform bill (HR 4), are to be achieved through a process known as "Alien Sponsor Deeming", in which the income and assets of an immigrant's sponsor are added to the immigrant's own resources in determining eligibility for government financial aid programs. Since most immigrants must have a sponsor in order to immigrate here legally, deeming would disqualify many legal immigrants from receiving aid by falsely inflating their income and wealth. WHO WILL BE AFFECTED? *A new draft report issued this month by the General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C. states that 390,000 legal immigrants received Pell grants nationwide in 1992-93. The Pell grant program is designed to help the neediest students and has a maximum award of $2,340 per year. *In California, legal immigrants make up 32.6% of Pell grant recipients. An analysis performed by the UC president's office found that more than 25% of UC students who receive need-based aid are legal immigrants. *In New York, legal immigrants make up 26.5% of Pell grant recipients. In Florida, the total is nearly 16%. *The Senate version of this bill (S. 269) would also restrict aid for naturalized citizens. *The bills now under consideration would essentially affect anyone who was not born in the United States. *A total of $21 million in Pell grants and $31 million in subsidized loans could be lost among the nine UC campuses alone. These restrictions will affect private colleges as well. WHY SHOUDLD YOU CARE? *As Permanent Residents of the United States, legal immigrants have been eligible for federal financial aid for many years. *Permanent Residents have achieved academic excellence and have gone on to become distinguished alumni of UC Berkeley, UCLA, and many other fine institutions of higher education. *Permanent Residents pay federal income taxes and are subject to the draft. *Permanent Residents have gone through all of the proper legal channels for immigration to this country. *The bills now being considered by a Joint Committee of the House and Senate would restrict benefits to many legal immigrants by changing eligibility requirements. *Two classes of citizens would be created, and legal immigrants would effectively be denied opportunities for higher education. ====================================================================== 3. OCA sample letter to act to stop welfare cut bill...................139 SAMPLE LETTER TO CONFERENCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS Dear Conference Committee Member: I am writing to strongly urge you to oppose provision against legal permanent residents and naturalized citizens in the welfare reform bill under your consideration. The anti-immigrant restrictions in both the House and Senate bills on all means-tested programs denies critical safety net programs to a significant portion of Americans who work hard and contribute to this country through taxes and other civic activities. Moreover, denying medical care, educational loans to legal permanent residents is not in the public's interest. As you consider the noncitizen section of the welfare reform provision, I urge you to SUPPORT the following issues: - DELETE RESTRICTION OF ACCESS BY LEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO MEDICAID AND ANY PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMS -- denial of health care is short-sighted and inhumane. - DELETE RESTRICTIONS OF OTHER NON-CASH PROGRAMS TO LEGAL IMMIGRANTS -- non-cash programs such as higher education loans and grants and job training are investments, not welfare. It is short-sighted to deny high education and job training to legal immigrants who will contribute to this country for the rest of their lives. - APPLY THE NONCITIZENS PROVISIONS PROSPECTIVELY - to deny benefits to current beneficiaries of the safety net programs will put undue strain on their families as well as the state and local governments that administer the programs. - DELETE SENATE RESTRICTIONS OF ACCESS TO ANY PROGRAMS BY NATURALIZED CITIZENS - in the House version of the welfare reform, all restrictions terminate when a legal immigrant obtains citizenship. - COMBINE BOTH SENATE AND HOUSE EXEMPTIONS FOR BARRED AND DEEMED BENEFITS -- House and Senate versions of the welfare reform contains different but critical exemptions. For example, House version includes elderly over 75 who have been in the country for over 5 years and the disabled but Senate version does not. The Senate version contain exemptions for the vicims of domestic violence but the House version does not. It is crucial to have these provisions included in the final bill. These issues are critical to ensure that no undue harships is inflicted on legal immigrants and imposes long-term cost to the nation as a whole. I strongly urge you to support these issues. Thank you very much for your consideration! Sincerely, (SIGN YOU NAME AND INCLUDE YOUR ADDRESS) List of Conference Committee Members: ABBREVIATIONS: LHOB - Longworth House Office Bldg. RHOB - Rayburn House Office Bldg CHOB - Cannon House Office Bldg. REPUBLICANS PHONE FAX ADDRESS Bill Archer (TX) 225-2571 225-4381 1236 LHOB Bill Goodling (PA) 225-4527 225-9903 2181 RHOB Pat Roberts (KS) 225-2715 225-5375 1125 LHOB E. Clay Shaw (FL) 225-1025 225-9480 1106 LHOB James M. Talent (MO) 225-2561 1022 LHOB Jim Nussle (IA) 225-2911 225-9129 308 CHOB Tim Hutchinson (AR) 225-4301 1541 LHOB Jim McCrery (LA) 225-2777 225-8039 225 CHOB Lamar Smith (TX) 225-5727 B370 RHOB Nancy L. Johnson (CT) 225-4476 225-4488 343 CHOB Dave Camp (MI) 225-3561 225-9679 137 CHOB Gary A Franks (CT) 225-3822 225-5085 133 CHOB DEMOCRATS Sam M. Gibbons (FL) 225-3376 2204 RHOB William L. Clay (MO) 225-2406 225-1725 2306 RHOB E. Kika de la Garza (TX)225-2531 225-2534 1401 LHOB John Conyers Jr. (MI) 225-6906 225-4423 2142 RHOB Harold E. Ford (TN) 225-1025 225-9215 B317 RHOB Henry A. Waxman (CA) 225-2095 225-5609 2408 RHOB George Miller (CA) 225-2095 225-5609 2205 RHOB Barbara B. Kennelly (CT)225-2265 225-1031 201 CHOB Sander M. Levin (MI) 225-4961 226-1033 106 CHOB Blanche Lanbert Lincoln (AR) 225-4076 225-4654 1204 LHOB SENATE - Area Code (202): Washington DC 20510 ABBREVIATIONS: Hart Senate Office Building - HSOB Dirksen Senator Office Bldg - DSOB Russell Senate Office Bldg - RSOB William V. Roth Jr (DE) 224-2441 224-0354 SH104 Hart Bob Dole (KS) 224-6524 228-4569 SH141 Hart John H. Chafee (RI) 224-2921 228-2853 SD506 Dirksen Charles E. Grassley (IA) 224-3744 224-0473 SH135 Hart Orrin G. Hatch (UT) 224-5251 224-6331 SR135 Russell Nancy Kasselbaum (KS) 224-6770 224-6510 SD428 Dirksen James M. Jeffords (VT) 224-5141 228-0338 SD530 Dirksen Daniel R. Coats (IN) 224-5623 224-3924 SR404 Russell Judd Gregg (NH) 224-3324 224-4952 SR393 Russell Richard G. Lugar (IN) 224-4814 224-2682 SR328A Russell Jesse helm (NC) 224-6342 224-7588 SD403 Dirksen DEMOCRATS Daniel Patrick Moynihan (NY) 224-4492 228-3904 SH203 Hart Bill Bradley (NJ) 224-3224 224-8567 SH731 Hart David Pryor (AR) 224-2353 224-8261 SR264 Russell John B Breaux (LA) 224-4623 224-9753 SH516 Hart Edward M. Kennedy (MA) 224-7675 224-3533 SR315 Russell Christopher J. Dodd (CT) 224-2823 224-1083 SR444 Russell Barbara A. Mikulski (MD) 224-4654 224-8858 SH709 Hart Partick J. Leahy 224-2035 224-9287 SR328A Russell Organization of Chinese Americans 1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Suite #707 Washington, D.C. 20036 E-Mail: oca@ari.net Tel:(202)223-5500 Fax:(202)296-0540 Voice Mail:(202)223-5523 ============================================================================ For donations to NCOI/ACCA, please make your checks payable to Association for Chinese Community Affairs, and mail them to Mr. Frank Chen c/o ACCA; 361 Ogden Avenue, Jersey City, NJ07307 ============================================================================ To endorse ACCA's petition letters to Congress, write to acca@superprism.net Your mail header and body should look like the following: ---------------------- cut here ---------------------- From: *your e-mail-address here* To: acca@superprism.net Subjest: Signature #NJ 07307, Mr. Frank Chen, 361 Ogden Avenue, Jersey City, or #NJ 07307, Mr. Frank Chen, (291)-299-8909 ---------------------- cut here ---------------------- Where "Signature" will direct your mail to our Processing Center, "#" is the computer retrieve identifier, followed by your zipcode, name, address, (with- out zipcode), or telephone number. Please retain an extra copy for yourself. If your submission is correct, you will receive a copy of the petition letter you just endorsed. If you do not receive it in two hours, PLEASE TRY AGAIN. ============================================================================ More info about HR 1915: ftp at superprism.net:/pub/acca www at http://superprism.net:/~acca/ gopher://cnd.cnd.org/11/English-Menu/InfoBase/HR1915 or, write to acca@superprism.net, with "help" in the "Subject:" field. Further inquiries or inputs send to hr1915@math.luc.edu **************************************************************************** To sub/unsub acca-l@superprism.net send to: acca-l-request@superprism.net with "sub" or "unsub" in the "Subject:" field. ACCA is formerly CBS-IC, to know more: ftp superprism.net:/pub/cbs-ic or http://superprism.net:/~cbs-ic/ **************************************************************************** Editor of this issue: Yi Yan **************************************************************************** ============================================================================ To (un)subscribe acca-l list, please write to acca-l-request@superprism.net with "sub" or "unsub" in the "Subject:" field, from your individual or local network redistribution account. You may also send your local redistribution address to hr1915@math.luc.edu. Committee on Immigration needs everyone of your support to protect our community and rights. ACCA's HR1915 infor-center through anonymous ftp at superprism.net:/pub/acca or www at http://superprism.net/~acca. Also, please visit our CBS-IC infor-center, ftp superprism.net:/pub/cbs-ic or http://superprism.net/~cbs-ic. National Chair of ACCA, Mr. Lin Huang ============================================================================ In Germany, they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist; then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew; then they came for the Trade-Unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Trade-Unionist; then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I am a Protestant; then they came for me, and by that time no-one was left to speak up. --- Martin Niemoller --- ============================================================================